How To Work With Knit Shirts That Shrink!

by | Embroidery Education | 1 comment

Table of Contents

Which Golf, Polo, Or Knit Shirts Can I Order For My Embroidery That Do Not Shrink?

+

This is a question that I get a lot. What type of shirt is best? Who is the best supplier to order from for the shirts that do not shrink? All knit shirts are going to shrink; some more than others. Even the most expensive knit shirts will shrink a small amount. This is something that is totally unavoidable.

It does not matter who your supplier is. There are many good ones.  Pay attention to brands and fabric content more than suppliers. The solution that I found to this problem was to order 3 different shirts, 3 different qualities of well-known brands, and do my own shrinkage test.

How Do You Test For Knit Shirt Shrinkage?

+

Lay the shirt out on a large piece of paper or embroidery backing or stabilizer from a large roll of embroidery backing and trace around it. Wash and dry the shirt, lay it back down on your drawing again, and compare the size. Repeat this for each quality shirt. You will be able to tell at that point which shirt shrinks the most or the least. This is how I test all of my shirts.

I have always offered 3 different shirt qualities to my customers, and I told them in advance about the shrinkage. If they were more interested in price, that was their issue, not mine, they were told. Sometimes they just order the next size larger to compensate for the shrinkage. Not only does this work, but it also takes the responsibility off of your shoulders.

If the Embroidery on a Knit Shirt is Puckering a small amount after I take it out of the dryer, is this the fault of my embroidery design?

+

This is another question that I often get concerning knit shirts. Knit shirts always look better after they are washed if you press them a little. The embroidery will always pucker or cup under a little after washing and drying when you have a lot of fill stitches in the design. A little pressing usually takes care of this issue. So many embroiderers think that it is the design when this happens, but that is not necessarily true. If it presses out flat easily, it is usually not the design.

In this world of no-iron garments, everyone expects that all they need to do is wash the garment, throw it in the dryer, remove it, and all is well. That is true to a certain extent, but when you have any type of stitching that has been added, you may have some slight puckering going on. Your backing even shrinks a small amount and that can contribute to this same issue. All knit shirts and even woven shirts need a slight press to make them look great around the embroidery!

To make the embroidery stand out even more, lay the embroidered area of the garment face down against a terry towel and steam press it from the back side. The embroidery will look like it is standing on top of the shirt in a 3D effect!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

© 2011 Joyce Jagger, The Embroidery Coach

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

“The Embroidery Coach, Joyce Jagger simplifies the complex world of embroidery into easy to understand lessons. Her passion is to help get the new embroiderer off to a fast start and help the existing embroiderer improve their skills so that they can provide higher quality embroidery and increase their profitability! Get her FREE Mini-Course “The 5 Mistakes Embroiderers Make” at www.TheEmbroideryCoach.com”